If,
in order to obtain it, it is necessary to have an army of a hundred
thousand men, I have nothing to say against it. It is an enjoyment
bought by a sacrifice. Let me not be misunderstood upon the extent of my
position. A member of the assembly proposes to disband a hundred
thousand men, for the sake of relieving the tax-payers of a hundred
millions.
If we confine ourselves to this answer--"The hundred millions of men,
and these hundred millions of money, are indispensable to the national
security: it is a sacrifice; but without this sacrifice, France would
be torn by factions or invaded by some foreign power,"--I have nothing
to object to this argument, which may be true or false in fact, but
which theoretically contains nothing which militates against economy.
The error begins when the sacrifice itself is said to be an advantage
because it profits somebody.
Now I am very much mistaken if, the moment the author of the proposal
has taken his seat, some orator will not rise and say--"Disband a
hundred thousand men! Do you know what you are saying? What will become
of them? Where will they get a living? Don't you know that work is
scarce everywhere? That every field is over-stocked? Would you turn them
out of doors to increase competition and to weigh upon the rate of
wages? Just now, when it is a hard matter to live at all, it would be a
pretty thing if the State must find bread for a hundred thousand
individuals? Consider, besides, that the army consumes wine, arms,
clothing--that it promotes the activity of manufactures in garrison
towns--that it is, in short, the godsend of innumerable purveyors.
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